August 06, 2024

Warren, Cortez Masto Lead Colleagues in Urging Federal Home Loan Banks Nationwide to Contribute More to Affordable Housing

Text of Letters (PDF)

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), sent letters to each of the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) urging them to contribute at least 20% of their net income to affordable housing and other critical community grant programs. The letters follow calls by both the Biden-Harris Administration and the Federal Housing Finance Agency for the FHLBanks to do more to meet their mission and support working families.

Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Min.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) all joined in signing the letter. 

“We write to ask that the Federal Home Loan Bank(s) voluntarily contribute at least 20 percent of its net income to grants that support affordable housing and community economic development investments by increasing support for your Affordable Housing Program (AHP) and creating new voluntary programs. In doing so, we echo the calls of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the White House, and the Treasury Department,” wrote the senators.

“Unfortunately, the FHLBanks have failed to adequately respond to (the housing) crisis,” they continued. “…Last year the FHLBanks spent only $395 million on affordable housing payments. In the past five years, 42% of the more than 6,500 FHLBank members have not originated a single mortgage, a stunning indication of the extent to which the FHLBanks have strayed from their housing mission.”

The letters stress that not a single FHLBank has fulfilled their voluntary pledge to increase their combined affordable housing and community development payments to 15%, but have paid millions to executives and board members over the past year.

The letters conclude with a concrete call for each FHLBank to allocate at least 20% of net income affordable housing and community development, saying “the FHLBs must do more to fulfill their mission and meet the…needs of the communities they serve.”

Senator Warren is a long-time advocate for safe, quality affordable housing for American families: 

  • In July 2024, Senator Warren, alongside Senator Raphael Warnock and Representative Emanuel Cleaver, led the reintroduction of the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act, a landmark bill to tackle the nation’s housing crisis, bring down costs for renters and buyers, and help working families everywhere find a decent place to live at a decent price. 
  • In June 2024, Senator Warren sent a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) calling on them to address the affordable housing crisis by reforming the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) System.
  • In May 2024, Senator Warren reintroduced the Public Housing Emergency Response Act to address the estimated $70 billion backlog of maintenance and repairs in our nation’s public housing.
  • In April 2024, at a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, U.S. Senator Warren called out FHLBs for failing to deliver on their mission to provide affordable housing as the country faces a housing crisis. Senator Warren called on FHFA to take action as the primary regulator of the  FHLBs. 
  • In January 2024, Senator Warren led a letter to Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell, calling on the Fed to reverse its troubling interest rate hikes that have driven mortgage rates to 20-year highs and have put affordable housing out of reach for too many Americans. 
  • In March 2023, at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Warren called out Wall Street real estate investors for exploiting tax breaks to buy up affordable housing, raise fees and rents, and evict families across the country. 
  • In May 2021, at a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Senator Warren made the case for her American Housing and Economic Mobility Act, which would create a new housing innovation grant program to reduce exclusionary local zoning laws. 
  • In March 2021, Senator Warren again reintroduced Senate companion to the Public Housing Emergency Response Act.
  • In November 2019, Senator Warren led the introduction  of the Senate companion to the Public Housing Emergency Response Act, to create a one-time, $70 billion appropriation into the Public Housing Capital Fund to address the estimated $70 billion backlog of maintenance and repairs in public housing. 
  • In March 2019, Senator Warren led the reintroduction of the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act to help bring down costs for renters and buyers, level the playing field so working families everywhere can find a decent place to live at a decent price, and takes the first step to address the effects of decades of housing discrimination on communities of color. 

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